CMA’s fears eased over Hitachi’s £1.4bn signalling deal

The UK’s competition watchdog says its concerns about the impact of Hitachi’s £1.4bn takeover of Thales’s rail infrastructure on the London Underground signalling sector have eased.

But the Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) is sticking to provisional findings that the proposed deal would lessen competition in the supply of mainline signalling.

With a final decision due by October 6 it said its inquiry group had considered new evidence and responses and believes Hitachi would not be a credible bidder to supply signalling systems on the Tube.

Stuart McIntosh, chairman of the group, said: ‘We have provisionally concluded that the merger would not harm competition in the supply of these systems in the UK.’

The industry has only a small number of suppliers, the CMA said. Siemens and Alstom are the other two leading firms. Thales is aiming to complete the deal in the second half of 2023.